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| Tue 06 Jan 2009 |
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Mini Rooftop NYC + HWKN |
Thursday, 11 September 2008 |
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 It must be said that the team at Mini Cooper know how to put on a good party. We can vouch for that after having just spent the last few days hanging at the MINI Rooftop NYC – an ‘urban oasis’ high above the daily grind in Hells Kitchen on 10th Avenue and 36th street. The space was put created as part of a 10-day event which brings together art, music, culture, fashion and design all inspired by the concept of 'Creative Use of Space' – the mantra used by Sir Alec Issigonis when he invented the MINI way back in 1959. Throughout the event artists, designers and other creative types were given the opportunity to showcase and explore their creativity in a series of workshops, presentations, discussions and of course, parties. The space also doubled as a post-party chill out zone as well as an early morning venue for yoga and pilates sessions.  Surprisingly, besides from a couple of specially designed MINI’s that are shuttling VIPs from their hotels to the roof, the space is completely unbranded with not a single logo in sight, which we found extremely refreshing. No one likes an in-your-face corporate gig. The rooftop space was designed by HWKN founders Matthias Hollwich and Marc Kushner - two young architects who are set to take the world by storm. Their passion is creating innovative and responsible spaces. They employ the idea of Econic Design - a term coined to fuse ecology with the iconic- in everything they do, After scouting over 150 rooftops, the duo finally found the perfect space; one that boasts amazing views of both the Manhattan Skyline, as well as the Hudson River.  “New York is more of an infrastructure than a city, and ever since it was founded, the inhabitants have struggled to make the city usable and more human. The concept of the rooftop is to support New Yorkers in this aim by galvanizing an untapped space. The city's roofs offer view, clean air, and almost a vacation from the city. The idea is to transplant iconographic elements from nature into the city - but to treat it with an urban approach – this is especially true when you look at our design features including the grassy hill that rises out of the aluminium gridded floor” explain Hollwich and Kushner.  Other recent projects from the HWKN team include Formiga, an open-air theatre in Rio de Janeiro, two large-scale apartment renovations on New York's Upper East Side and a whole range of concept designs such as the Hybrid House, high-rise building Magic Mountain, and MEtreePOLIS, an urban vision for Atlanta 2108. We are especially impressed by their design of the White Plant – the New York headquarters and production space for Japanese artist Murakami. In this project, the team negotiated the relationship between the old and new by thinking of the existing industrial space of this vacant warehouse as a quarry. Here they have purposely juxtaposed and inserted a misfit of elements, unified by continuous layers of white to create a curious and multilayered blank canvas space perfect for the madness that you would expect from Murakami and his Kaikai Kiki collective.  Back to the rooftop; we would hate to name drop, but you must be doing something right (or have amazing contacts) if you are graced with the presence of Mary-Kate Olsen, Diane Von Furstenberg and model de jour Agyness Deyn in the first few days. Add those to sets by some of the coolest bands and DJs including MGMT, Cut Copy, Sneaky Sound System and DJ Diplo; this is the place to be to celebrate (or mourn) the end of summer. - Brendan McKnight  |
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